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State of Mind
Berlin, 2048 – The world is on the brink. Lack of resources, illnesses caused by polluted air and water, crime on the rise, war. Governments and companies promise remedies through technological progress. Drones and humanoid robots replace humans in the public sector, everything is interconnected, surveillance has become omnipresent.
Richard Nolan is one of the few journalists openly criticizing this development. When he wakes up in hospital after an explosion and finds that his wife and son have mysteriously vanished, Richard realizes: he and his family have become more than just bystanders in a storm of rivaling ideas pertaining humankind’s salvation between dystopian reality and digital utopia. Instead, they find themselves right at the center of it.
Game Discussion
Steam User 35
Just gotta say, this game is on sale for $1.99 right now (usually $19.99). It was one of THE BEST games I have played in a while. It takes some getting used to at first, and starts off kind of slow, but once you get to the first "Holy Crap" moment, you're invested. I beat it in one sitting (7.5 Hours). I plan on going back and collecting the last 12 achievements as well to 100% it.
Steam User 10
HIDDEN GEM
GAMEPLAY:
The game is played through a third-person perspective. There is no combat involved in the game, instead gameplay mostly revolves around interacting with other characters, solving puzzles and doing mini games. Many things in the world can be scanned and interacted with, which gives the player information about items in the world. Players can, for example, interact with photos of the main character Richard's family. The game also focuses on exploring a wide variety of locations.
STORY:
State of Mind unfolds in Berlin in 2048 and revolves around Richard Nolan, a journalist waking up in a hospital after an explosion, finding out that his family is nowhere to be found. Nolan soon realizes that the world has changed and that technology is taking over. The game focuses on the impact that AI and technology have on humans, as well as coming to terms with in what manner super AI- can adapt to human behavior.
CONCLUSION:
Good story game for its price. I think the developers deserve the support.
Steam User 18
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the intro of state of mind sets the scene perfectly. we're in berlin, the year is 2048, everything looks crap, neon, chaos and pandemonium everywhere. one of the protagonists, richard, is a journalist for a major publication. he just had an accident, has some memory issues, but his ar chip or whatever remained intact, so no need for a hotspot indicator, everything of interest is highlighted. welcome to the future. richard doesn't come off as somebody to root for, he clearly has family problems, he's anti-robot and pro-side piece.
the other protagonist, adam, was also in an accident, he has a wife and son as well. a much more likeable group, living in a much nicer area called city5, though they have their issues too. it's not all family drama, you'll find the usual themes of robots good or bad, terrorism, etc. sprinkled all over.
great graphics and voice work, it's all very cinematic, lots of cutscenes interrupting the exploration, but there's also less busywork, which I didn't mind. the world is pretty cool, great attention to detail, a bedtime story here, a holo-tv segment there. you can even publish an article by deciding each paragraph's tone, and the more you drink, the more aggressive it gets. most dialog choices don't make a difference and there aren't many puzzles to speak of, they're more like mini-games. I liked or didn't mind most of them, but there were a few annoying ones.
movement can be a bit clunky but controls work well overall and they are rebindable. two sets of keys to walk around, bring up the inventory and navigate menus, plus the mouse for looking around and interacting, though the latter can be done with hotkeys as well. right click to skip dialog sentence by sentence, actual cutscenes can't be skipped. gamepads are also supported, movement speed is decent and there's a sprint button too. I would've liked to zoom out, get the camera off my back, sadly it's not an option.
commendable amount and quality of settings otherwise. separate volume sliders, resolutions, windowed mode, brightness, some graphics settings, optional subtitles and a bunch of languages for them and voiceovers, plus in-game representation of achievements. only autosaving after each scene, but it happens over multiple slots, so much so that not only are 5 autosaves rotated, just in case, but by the end you'll have a bunch of 'story saves', much better than chapter select, which would've meant only 5 jumping-in points. I would've still liked a save & exit option, because without skippable cutscenes continuing the game later meant watching the opening of the current section again.
gotta say, I really enjoyed the whole thing, found it hard to stop playing when I had to, but also didn't want to binge it in two sittings. just enough exploration and fluff to mix up an otherwise linear game without becoming overwhelming, plus a decent story presented really well. it reminded me of omikron: the nomad soul and remember me but without too many shitty arcade/combat sequences. I finished it in about 10 hours, took my time, walked around, read everything, that's the whole point, but it should be doable in 8 hours at a steady pace. without any major issues to speak of, it's an easy recommendation if you want a non-challenging near-future experience.
Steam User 7
Overall not a bad game. Sci-fi themes of transhumanism, virtual reality, robotics, etc. Starts off really interesting and sort of slows down. Similar to a Telltale game or a walking sim. Not to much in the way of gameplay, more about the atmosphere and story. Got it on sale for next to nothing, but it was a decent game.
Steam User 7
It's a decent sci-fi walking simulator. As a fan of cyberpunk genre, I'm glad I played it as I loved the atmosphere, world building and story. The low poly design gives the game nice and unique feel. However, gameplay does feel like a chore most of time time - sluggish character control, a LOT of unskippable cutscenes and dialogue, a few tedious puzzles and a very repetitive soundtrack.
I recommend it if you're a fan of the genre, and can bear with dull gameplay in return for some nice cyberpunk aesthetics.
Steam User 6
I was hooked from start to finish... I STRONGLY RECOMMEND State Of Mind if you enjoy narrative games.
You will feel like you are watching a good sci-fi thriller.
Despite a few weaknesses, the game is quite ambitious, has a very original plot idea, well-written dialogues, unique graphics in cohesion with the world in which we are immersed, and a Blade Runner / Dreamfall atmospheric setting with good ambient music. State Of Mind will stimulate your imagination...
I think this game is underrated.
Steam User 8
Don't let the low-poly visuals fool you - behind these simplistic esthetics lies a remarkable story, one that makes the player question the relationship between humanity and technology and how much progress is too much. It also discusses whether virtual reality is any less real than the real world, a topic that's slowly becoming more interesting as VR technology is developed.
The main and almost only focus of State of Mind is storytelling. Apart from a few simple puzzles there's nothing in the gameplay to challenge the player, but do not worry - the plot will do that for you. If you love mind-bending stories and don't mind the choppy visuals, I highly recommend State of Mind. It's a work of art that'll keep you wanting more.